An investigation of avalanche noise in the non local impact ionization regime

Abstract

The probability distribution function (PDF) for avalanche multiplication and the excess noise factor are calculated using non local ionization coefficients. The dead space effect is shown to reduce the excess noise factor for a given multiplication. At higher electric field values a resonance effect is observed in addition to the dead space effect. The resonance effect leads to a more deterministic behaviour in the PDF for avalanche multiplication and this gives rise to very low excess noise factors for multiplication values of 2, 4, 8 and 16 if the ionization coefficient ratio is small.